Signal wins second straight sweepstakes

For the second year in a row, the Baldwin City Signal won the sweepstakes in the Kansas Press Association's Awards of Excellence competition.

The sweepstakes, signifying the best newspaper in the state for each division, was won Saturday night in Topeka at the culmination of the KPA's annual convention. The Signal won 17 awards, one more than last year's sweepstakes' winning performance. The finish included seven first-place awards.

Pride comes easy to us Americans. We have an unlimited ability to be proud of ourselves whether or not we are deserving. What we truly lack is humility and an ability to see ourselves as we really are. We put so much faith in the power of marketing that we believe we can become great simply by saying that we are. We forget, conveniently, that self-confidence takes you only so far, and then you must engage in some concerted effort toward improvement. The problem with too much pride is that it eclipses our sense of the need for improvement. If we believe we have much to be proud of, then we think we have little to improve. This is our downfall, the reason why the United States is no longer at the top in entrepreneurism and innovation. We rest on our laurels, toot our horns to make sure everyone thinks we are great. Then we think we don’t particularly have to do anything of worth to back it up. Or worse, we let our modest accomplishments pump up our egos until we believe our own hype. When that happens, we start to think we can do no wrong. And we start to think we have power to wield that, perhaps, we did not have to begin with. We would de well to remember: Pride goes before a fall.